1. Field of Invention
The field of this invention is analyte determination, and is particularly directed to reagent test strips for use in analyte determination assays.
2. Background of the Invention
Analyte detection in physiological fluids, e.g., blood or blood-derived products, is of ever increasing importance to today""s society. Analyte detection assays find use in a variety of applications, including clinical laboratory testing, home testing, etc., where the results of such testing play a prominent role in the diagnosis and management of a variety of conditions. The more common analytes include glucose, alcohol, formaldehyde, L-glutamic acid, glycerol, galactose, glycated proteins, creatinine, ketone body, ascorbic acid, lactic acid, leucine, malic acid, pyruvic acid, uric acid and steroids, etc. In response to this growing importance of analyte detection, a variety of analyte detection protocols and devices for both clinical and home use have been developed.
Many current analyte detection protocols employ a reagent test strip to detect an analyte in a sample. With reagent test strips, a sample is applied to a reagent area of a small strip and a signal is produced that is indicative of the presence of analyte in the sample. As the demand for such test strips has grown, the need for ever more efficient test strip manufacturing protocols that minimize the waste of expensive materials has increased.
As such, there is continued interest in the development of new manufacturing methods that would increase the efficiency of manufacturing reagent test strips. Of particular interest would be manufacturing methods that provide for increased manufacturing efficiency, reduced cost and are amenable to continuous manufacture procedures.
Relevant Literature
U.S. Patents of interest include: U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,309. Also of interest are U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,972,294; 5,968,836; 5,843,691; 5,789,255; 5,753,452; 5,620,863; 5,605,837; 5,563,042; 5,462,032; 5,418,142; 5,059,394; 5,179,005.
Methods for making reagent test strips are provided. In the subject methods, a test strip precursor made up of an elongated support material having a planar surface and a narrow strip of reagent material positioned along its central axis is cut according to an inter-digitating pattern to produce the plurality of reagent test strips. The initial precursor material may be a tape or in the form of a card or analogous shape. Also provided are the reagent test strips produced by the subject methods and kits that include the same. The subject reagent test strips and kits find use in analyte detection and/or concentration determination assays.